Effect

Generation I

Rest causes the user to fall asleep, restoring its HP to its maximum amount. The user will then be asleep for two turns, waking up on the second. Rest will fail if the user has full HP.

A glitch causes the stat reductions associated with paralysis and burn to remain despite the fact that the Pokémon no longer has that status. The damage done by Toxic is also not reset and will pick up where it left off if the user becomes badly poisoned again.

Rest will also fail if the user's maximum HP is 256 or 511 and its current HP is one less than that amount.

Generation II

The user will now awaken from Rest three turns after it is used and can attack on the third. If Rest is used through Sleep Talk, it will restore the user's HP and reset the amount of turns the user stays asleep.

Any major status conditions the user is affected by will now be cured. Safeguard will not prevent usage of Rest, and the user of Safeguard will still sleep the full three turns.

Generations III to V

Rest will now fail if it is used through Sleep Talk, regardless of the user's HP. If a Pokémon with the Early BirdAbility uses Rest, its Ability still applies and the Pokémon's turns asleep will be rounded down from three to one. Rest will automatically fail if used by a Pokémon with Insomnia or Vital Spirit, as these Abilities prevent them from falling asleep. Rest will also fail when used while Uproar is in effect.

Special move

Bold indicates a Pokémon which gets STAB from this move.Italic indicates a Pokémon whose evolution or alternate form gets STABfrom this move.

Other appearances

Jigglypuff uses Rest as its down B attack in the Super Smash Bros. series. Its effect is vastly different than its Pokémon game counterpart, as rather than healing the player, it launches the opponent into the air and plants a damage-inflicting flower on their head (in Brawl and SSB4) or sets them on fire (in Melee and the original SSB). This is a close-range attack with the hitbox placed at the center of Jigglypuff's body; using it even right next to the target will fail. If the attack misses, Jigglypuff will fall asleep doing no damage and leaving itself open to attacks.

Trivia

Although Rest does not deal any damage in the normal games, in the Super Smash Bros. series, Jigglypuff's Rest attack unleashes an internal explosion that sends any opponent it touches flying, almost always ending in a KO.

According to Webster's friend in Johto, Rest is a contraction of Recover fast.